Croatia's Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic on Tuesday met with Serbian President Boris Tadic and their talks, held in Tadic's office ahead of an informal meeting of foreign ministers of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), focused on bilateral cooperation and outstanding issues and Serbia's integration with the EU.
Speaking to reporters during a break in the SEECP meeting, Pusic said the two most important topics of her talks with Tadic were outstanding issues in Croatia-Serbia relations and the issue of Serbia's candidacy for EU membership.
"Croatia's position - and I've stated it here too - is that maximum effort should be taken so that Serbia is awarded candidate status in March. Of course, Croatia is not deciding and has no right to vote in EU bodies, but it has the right to participate in discussions. We'll see what EU countries will decide," she said.
Pusic went on to say that it would be ideal if Serbia met the most necessary criteria for candidate status and became an EU candidate. "I think that it would be good for Serbia and for the region."
As for outstanding issues between the two countries, Pusic said that problems should be solved bilaterally if possible and that it would be a sign of "political maturing of our countries."
She said that there was agreement on both sides that problems concerning people's everyday life should be solved, but that she and Tadic did not discuss concrete models of dealing with those problems and that agreement on that issue would take some time.
If Croatia and Serbia prove to be able to deal with their outstanding problems, there is certainly a possibility of discussing the two countries' mutual genocide lawsuits, she said.
"If we are unable to solve the outstanding issues, we can hardly deal with something bigger than that."
Tadic's office said after his talks with Pusic that the talks focused on bilateral relations and regional cooperation, the integration of Southeast European countries with the EU and the strengthening of economic cooperation between Croatia and Serbia.
Addressing participants in the SEECP meeting, Pusic said that one of the most important prerequisites of stability in Southeast Europe was a stable and functioning Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as that countries in the region must assume responsibility for the region and for themselves.
"All outstanding issues between our countries should be solved bilaterally. It has been proven that the best results can be expected when two countries reach agreement without external initiatives and pressures," she said.
On the fringes of the SEECP conference, Pusic met with her counterparts from neighbouring countries, including Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.
